When you look at the scores in the league, most matches were close. Then we have a championship that pits Louth against Dublin…as our flagship competition…and they wonder why people take drugs!! You couldn’t make it up!

We cruised to victory over Cavan, beating them by 13 points. We led by five points at half time and then broke free in the second half with a couple of goals, with Cavan not helping themselves with at least two black cards which of course meant they were reduced to 13 men for a period.

For ourselves, it was a great start to the league, with the immediate aim being to gather enough points to avoid relegation. Once that is achieved, then we can hopefully give promotion a rattle. We have some talented forwards and Geezer appears to have a full panel to pick from this year, notwithstanding injuries. The star of the show on Saturday evening was Conor Turbitt who scored 1-6 and looks to be a great addition to our attack. Concerns would be the ease with which Cavan were able to penetrate the centre of our defence, particularly in the first half.

Cavan were not impressive and appear to have been hit hard by the defections / retirements from the panel. It might have been a slow start, but the sense is that they may struggle.

Although defeated, Fermanagh appeared to put up a good show against Kildare in Newbridge and I would expect them to be in Division 2 next year again. Laois snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat, scoring two goals in injury time away to Roscommon whilst Westmeath pipped Clare, who, like Cavan, might struggle with a few defections.

It’s probably a discussion for another thread, but I noted that prior to the Dublin v Kerry match on Saturday evening, that the panel took time to discuss the amount of players who re dropping off county panels, particularly in Divisions 2 and 3. Although no solutions were offered, I think it is good that the discussion is happening as I get a sense that this could increasingly become an issue in the future.

On the players dropping off, there is plenty. Cavan seem worst affected, with Clarke, Moynagh and Mc Veety gone… Roscommon have lost the two Murtaghs, Donegal failed to get McNiallais back. Quinlivan gone from Tipp, Ben McCormack Kildare, Tyrone losing McShane to Aussie rules and McAliskey dropping off, Gary Brennan gone from Clare. Just a number of ones I can recall-there is obviously plenty more. Majority of those named are key men too!

For every 10/15 lads that drop off I would counter that by saying there are 1000s only dying for the chance to replace them. Its a nonsense story imo. Some lads want to have a life and some lads want to be a sportsperson. Each to their own

then that is natural wastage type thing … fellas retire / walk away. Some replace them like we did we Con who will be an improvement but have we found a better FB than we had in 80/90s maybe not so you cant always gets better sometimes you need to accept what you have and enjoy that for what it is and the effort they are putting in.
When you are on the ground and see the numbers playing and hoping to wear their county jersey someday in every county I for one am not overly worried about the player drop out ratio. Sure we even had it with Dermo, Rory and Jack Mc who then returned.

Aw come on. You surely can’t compare Dublin’s talent pool to the rest of the country?

3 players are detrimental to Cavan, hammered in D2 last week. Been a yoyo club between top 2 divisions for years, won’t be now. Take any 3 of Dublin’s players out and they’ll still be All ireland favourites.

On the players dropping off, there is plenty. Cavan seem worst affected, with Clarke, Moynagh and Mc Veety gone… Roscommon have lost the two Murtaghs, Donegal failed to get McNiallais back. Quinlivan gone from Tipp, Ben McCormack Kildare, Tyrone losing McShane to Aussie rules and McAliskey dropping off, Gary Brennan gone from Clare. Just a number of ones I can recall-there is obviously plenty more. Majority of those named are key men too!

Clare also lost Jamie Malone, Aaron Fitzgerald, Sean O’Donoghue and a couple players on fringe of panel along with Brennan. All them lads played in central positions so think Clare are certain to be relegated.